1. Field of the Invention
The high temperature battery in accordance with the present invention is a primary, thermal battery and does directly convert energy into electricity.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions of primary batteries, thermal batteries and direct conversion of energy into electricity are presented to indicate the prior art in these subjects.
The following definition of a battery is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 3, pages 281 and 282. (Note that an anode and a cathode of a battery have a different polarity than the anode and cathode of a device which consumes electric current.):
BATTERY. PA1 The term battery, as commonly used in electricity and electrochemistry, refers to a device for converting chemical energy directly to electrical energy. The mechanism of the process involves the arrangement of chemicals in such a manner that electrons are released in one part, or electrode, of the battery and caused to flow through an external circuit to the other part, or electrode. Such batteries are called voltaic cells. PA1 The part of the battery at which the electrons are released to the external circuit is called the anode, or the negative electrode or pole; the part that receives the electrons from the external circuit is called the cathode or the positive electrode or pole. (The terms anode and cathode are used here in the accepted scientific sense in referring to components of a battery that produces electric current; in a device that consumes current--e.g., an electroplating cell, an electron tube, etc.--the term anode is commonly applied to the positive electrode while the negative electrode is called the cathode.) Familiar examples of batteries are the so-called dry cells used in flashlights, lead-acid batteries used in automobiles and mercury batteries used in hearing aids. PA1 Batteries employing this type of electrolyte are generally referred to as "thermal" batteries because of their heat-activation characteristics. PA1 The conductivities of molten salts are from 10 to 100 times higher than those of aqueous systems, so that molten salt cells should have low voltage losses due to the IR drop . . . The use of high currents requires that considerable attention be paid to elimination of ohmic resistance in other parts of the battery, e.g., contact resistance within the leads . . . At corresponding temperatures relative to the melting point, simple ionic salts do not possess physical properties radically different from other liquids. PA1 Aluminum. The equivalent weight of this material is 9. A high temperature cell has been described (Reference Publication A 280: L. Antipin, Zh. Fiz. Khim. 30; 1425 (1956) (C.A. 51: 6394 i)) which has an aluminum negative and an O.sub.2 /Cu positive. The electrolyte consisted of 40.5% AlF.sub.3, 57.85% NaF, and 2.65% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. PA1 "ELECTROLYTE, in chemistry and physics, a substance which conducts electric current as a result of a dissociation into positive and negative ions, which migrate toward and frequently are discharged at the negative and positive electrodes, respectively. In those instances in which an ion is not discharged at a given electrode, some other substance present in the solution or forming part of the electrode is instead always oxidized at the positive electrode or reduced at the negative electrode. The most familiar electrolytes are acids, bases and salts, which ionize in solution in such solvents as water, alcohol, etc. Many salts, such as sodium chloride, behave as electrolytes when melted in the absence of any solvent; and some, such as silver iodide, are electrolytes even in the solid state." PA1 If the reaction product of the electrochemical reaction can serve as the electrolyte rather than being dissolved in another fluid, a simpler and potentially lighter system will result. This often occurs with fused-salt electrolytes . . . The power capacity of a battery is to a large extent determined by the ratio of the open circuit voltage (OCV) to the resistance of the electrolyte. The higher the OCV and the lower the electrolyte resistance, the higher the power density that can be attained, which leads to the selection of very active electrode materials to obtain the high OCV and to fused-salt electrolytes because of their low resistivities. Typical resistivities are 0.1 to 1.0 ohm-cm for fused salts, 1 to 10 ohm-cm for aqueous electrolytes, and 100 ohm-cm and greater for organic electrolytes and solid electrolytes. Electrolyte resistance is given by pl/A where p is electrolyte resistivity, l is electrolyte thickness, and A is electrode area, so that low resistances can be obtained even with high-resistivity electrolytes if they can be made sufficiently thin. Glass can be an ion conductor using positive sodium ions with a resistivity of about 100 ohm-cm at 300.degree. C. However, by making the glass membrane thin (say 10.sup.-3 cm) and using a large area the internal resistance of a battery can still be kept low. PA1 "Borax, a colourless substance, found in major quantity in the salt deposits of California and also in Chile, Tibet, Peru and Canada. It has an alkaline taste and is moderately soluble in water. When heated borax foams vigorously, losing the water shown in its formula (Na.sub.2 B.sub.4 O.sub.7.10H.sub.2 O), and melts to form a clear glass. Molten borax dissolves many metallic oxides or salts to form boron glasses, some of which have characteristic colours. PA1 Borax is used for the removal of oxide slags in metallurgy and in welding or soldering, for the detection of metals and for the production of coloured glazes on pottery. It is an important ingredient in many glasses and in enamels for ironware. It also finds application as a soap supplement or water softener. The discovery of the role of borax in plant nutrition led to the extensive use of borax in fertilizers . . . PA1 . . . Although molten borax acts as an acid toward metal oxides, because of the excess of boron oxide in the formula (empirically 2NaBO.sub.2.B.sub.2 O.sub.3), the aqueous solution is alkaline because of hydrolysis . . . PA1 All polyborates of known structure contain the BO.sub.3 unit, in which a boron atom is at the centre of an equilateral triangle outlined by three oxygen atoms. Such units share oxygen atoms to form condensed systems . . . " PA1 "3. Electrical Conductivity: The electrical conductivity of molten borax is less than that of most other molten salts (520). Since the negative ions form an immobile network, the conductivity of borax glass is due only to the sodium ions (524)." PA1 All vegetable growths, as well as coal, peat, and lignite leave ashes when burned, and all of them contain some alkali. Potash was originally produced from the ashes of plants. (See Potassium.) Estimated as K.sub.2 O, it amounts to ca. 10% in the ash of straw, and 42% in that from peas. The potassium oxide is associated with varying amounts of sodium oxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, iron oxide, sulphur (in the form of sulphates), silica, carbon dioxide, and phosphoric acid. The woods that yield the greatest amount of potassium are wormwood and fumitory . . . The ash of plant material amounts to approximately 4%, and contains the following elements (in decreasing order of abundance): potassium, sulphur, magnesium, phosphorous, silicon, calcium, sodium, iron, aluminum, chlorine and manganese. PA1 Page 15: PA1 Many lithium salts are only sparingly soluble in water (LiF, Li.sub.3 PO.sub.4, Li.sub.2 CO.sub.3) whereas the corresponding salts of the other alkali metals are water soluble. PA1 Page 25: PA1 The ashes of plant materials contain potassium carbonate (potash); very little sodium carbonate (soda) is found in such ash except for that of plants growing in or near the sea. Interestingly, lithium carbonate is found in the ashes of the tobacco plant. PA1 Page 139: PA1 Polonium . . . The metal is low melting (mp=254.degree. C.) and boils at 962.degree. C. It is a very rare and highly toxic metal and is strongly radioactive . . . The oxide, PoO.sub.2, is also red and loses oxygen on heating. PA1 There is evidence that Po.sup.210, a natural contaminant in tobacco and a strong alpha emitter, may be a contributory cause of bronchial cancer in smokers. PA1 Lithium, a chemically reactive metallic element which resembles somewhat the other alkali metals, sodium, potassium, rubidium and caesium with which it is classified in group I of the periodic system. However, as the first member of the group, lithium is unique and has certain properties which render it distinct from its congeners and somewhat similar to magnesium and several other metals of group II. For example, lithium is the only element of its group to react with nitrogen to form a nitride, Li.sub.3 N, whereas all of the metals of group II undergo a similar reaction. It is also unusual in that it is the lightest of all solid elements and at ordinary temperatures has a higher specific heat than any other substance except water . . . PA1 Uses. PA1 Lithium was generally unknown and had few uses for more than a century after its discovery. The United States, the world's largest producer, averaged 290,000 lb. of lithium carbonate (or its equivalent) per year for 1935-39. During World War II a peak of 2,790,000 lb. was reached (1944); this was exceeded in every year after 1950, reaching more than 30,000,000 lb. per year in the 1960s. The metal has been used as a constituent of certain light metal alloys, with magnesium and aluminum-zinc alloys and in heavy-duty lead bearing alloys. It is used as a degasifier in the production of high-conductivity copper and bronze castings and is also used in the synthesis of vitamin A. Lithium compounds are used in lubricants and ceramics, which consume the largest quantities, and in air conditioning, welding and brazing. PA1 Occurence and Production. PA1 It is estimated that lithium constitutes about 0.0065% of the igneous rocks of the earth. Because of its high chemical activity, the element occurs only in combination and its compounds are widely distributed but in small concentrations. Traces of lithium are found in animal tissue, plants (especially tobacco), the soil and a large number of minerals. Small quantities occur in sea water and in some springs. . . PA1 Lithium metal is obtained by the electrolysis of a fused lithium chloride and potassium chloride salt mixture containing 40%-50% of lithium chloride. Other methods of reduction have been tried but fused salt electrolysis is the process used commercially. PA1 Compounds. PA1 The compounds of lithium are predominantly ionic and their chemical properties are in part those of the lithium ion. This ion, the smallest of the alkali group, attracts an electron more strongly than the others and is more easily reduced to the metal. It also attracts water molecules most strongly with the liberation of a large amount of energy, thereby facilitating the reaction of lithium metal with water. As a result, lithium has a high electrode potential in water solution, greater than that of cesium, instead of the lowest of the group which might be expected from the ionization potential. PA1 Lithium hydride is a white solid with a crystalline structure of the sodium chloride type and a melting point of 688.degree. C. Electrolysis of the fused compound liberates lithium at the cathode and hydrogen at the anode. It is typical of the class of "saltlike" hydrides which are formed by the elements of groups I and II. Lithium aluminum hydride, LiAlH.sub.4, and lithium borohydride, LiBH.sub.4, in common with lithium hydride are strong reducing agents and react with water to liberate hydrogen and form the metal hydroxides. Lithium aluminum hydride is extensively used as a reducing agent in organic synthesis. PA1 Lithium carbonate, Li.sub.2 CO.sub.3, a sparingly soluble salt, is used in the preparation of a number of other lithium compounds, in ceramics for producing glazes and in manufacturing special grades of glass. The bicarbonate, LiHCO.sub.3, is soluble in water. Lithium fluoride, LiF, has the highest heat of formation of all the alkali halides and is one of the most stable compounds known. It is somewhat insoluble and is used in soldering and welding fluxes." PA1 Potassium is not found in a free state in nature, but in combined forms is distributed in nearly all soils and terrestrial waters and many rocks. It is one of the elements important for the nutrition of plants, and its compounds are contained in most plant and animal tissues. PA1 . . . The history of potassium is closely linked to that of sodium. PA1 . . . Soluble potassium salts which are present in all fertile soils are drawn into the roots of plants and accumulate in the plant structure. PA1 . . . Potassium belongs to the group of the alkali metals (Group 5 of the periodic system) and closely resembles the other elements of the group, lithium, sodium, rubidium, cesium and the short-lived radioactive element francium. PA1 . . . Potassium forms three oxides, and a fourth of less certain existence has been reported. Potassium superoxide, KO.sub.2, the most common of the superoxides, first prepared by Gay-Lussac and Thenard, is made by heating the metal in air at 180.degree. C. to 200.degree. C. or by treating a liquid ammonia solution of the metal with oxygen at -50.degree. C. . . . The melting point is 380.degree. C. and the density is 2.15 grams per cubic centimeter. It is paramagnetic . . . " PA1 Direct conversion is a rather loosely defined term covering processes in which heat or radiation is transformed direct to electricity rather than first to mechanical energy and then to electricity. Direct conversion has several advantages, among the most important of which is that electricity can be generated by devices employing no moving parts. Some of the phenomena--such as the generation of an electrical potential difference in a circuit consisting of two dissimilar metals with the junctions at different temperatures, and the flow of electricity which occurs when metal plates are illuminated with ultraviolet light--have been known for many years. These phenomena were discovered by T. J. Seebeck in 1826 and by H. R. Hertz in 1887, respectively. PA1 Thermoelectric Devices. PA1 Thermoelectric phenomena came into existence because of the tendency of charged particles (both negatively charged electrons and positively charged "holes") to travel from the hot end of the material to the cold end. If one had a material with an initially uniform density of electrons independent of temperature, then--since the electrons in the hot end would be moving faster than those in the cold end--there would be a tendency for more electrons to leave the hot end and travel into the cold end than vice versa. However, as soon as a few electrons had diffused to the cold part, they would give rise to an electrical field which would discourage further flow of electrons to the cold part, thus bringing about a steady-state condition. Another phenomena that can bring about a flow of charged particles from one end to the other occurs when the density of free carriers increases with increasing temperature, in accordance with the same type of equation that describes the increase in water vapour pressure with temperature. Thus, if there are many more free electrons at the hot end of the material, there is a strong tendency for them to diffuse through the material to the cold end, raising it to a negative potential. Experiments with a variety of materials show that the cold end could become either negatively charged or positively charged. The reason for this is that in semiconductors or metals the current can be carried either by electrons or by holes. Thus, in order to obtain the maximum voltage or current in a thermoelectric circuit, one leg should be composed of a material in which current is carried by negative carriers and the other of a material in which current is carried by positive carriers. In other words, the temperature gradient or heat flow in both legs is in the same direction but the electrical currents flow up one leg and down the other, thus reinforcing each other. PA1 When current flows from one material to another there is an abrupt change, across the junction between them, in the environment in which the charged particle is moving. This gives rise to what is called a Peltier heat. The process is analogous to the change in energy of an ion when it moves from one solution to another through a membrane. There is a thermodynamic relationship between this Peltier heat, the temperature difference and the thermoelectric potential difference, a relationship known as the Seebeck voltage, generated when the circuit is broken and the electrical potential measured . . . PA1 Thermionic Devices. PA1 Thermionic devices consist of evacuated or plasma-filled cells in which electrons are boiled out of a hot anode and are collected at a cold cathode. Thomas A. Edison applied for a patent in 1883 on a direct-conversion device utilizing thermionic emission, although at the time he was not aware of the physical principles of the device. The Edison tube was essentially one of his carbon-filament light bulbs into which he inserted an extra electrode. Of particular interest was the nuclear-heated cell that was successfully tested at Los Alamos, N. M., atomic energy laboratory in 1958. The cathode consisted of uranium-zirconium carbide and, when it was heated to bright incandescence by placing it in the Omega West reactor, it produced 20 amp. at 0.5 v. Both thermoelectric and thermionic converters are low-voltage, high-current devices. A typical 100-watt thermoelectric stage produces 1,000 amperes at 0.1 volts, while a typical 100-watt thermionic cell produces 100 amperes at 1 volt. Units must be arranged in series and parallel to produce the desired output voltage and current. PA1 Some other Direct-Conversion Devices. PA1 The vacuum phototube is very similar to a thermionic device, except that the electrons are liberated from the cathode in a quantum process in which a light photon gives up all of its energy to free the electron and increase its kinetic energy. Those electrons liberated near the surface which have energies greater than the work function can escape. The solid-state analog to a photocell is a P-N semiconducting junction. At a P-N semiconductor junction the extra electrons and holes that are formed during the absorption of light are separated by the internal electrical fields existing in the semiconductor. PA1 A thermally regenerative fuel cell represents another class of direct-conversion devices. (In one such device,) lithium and hydrogen are burned in the fuel cell at a temperature of 450.degree. C. The lithium hydride formed is then thermally decomposed at a higher temperature, about 850.degree. C., to produce free lithium and hydrogen, which are returned to the fuel cell for recombination. PA1 Soldering and brazing are processes for joining metals by the application of heat. A common characteristic of both processes is the use of a filler metal or alloy which melts and wets the surfaces of the joint at temperatures below the melting points of the metals being joined. The distinguishing difference between the processes is the strength of the joint and the temperature required for making it. Soldered joints are weaker than brazed joints and the soldering process relates to joints made at temperatures below 427.degree. C. Brazing (including hard soldering) in most applications required temperatures from 540.degree. C. to 1,177.degree. C. Soft Solders.--The common soft solders consisting of lead and tin are the principal alloys used in the lower temperature range. The lead content may vary from 30% to 60% with the balance tin . . . PA1 Lead-tin alloys high in tin can be used in joining aluminum but aluminum alloys in the melting range of 540.degree. C. to 600.degree. C. are preferred . . . PA1 Hard Solders and Low-Temperature Brazing PA1 Alloys. PA1 Filler metals in the temperature range above 427.degree. C. include a large number of compositions starting with aluminum solders melting at approximately 600.degree. C. and running to copper at 1,079.degree. C. and nickel alloys between 1,038.degree. C. and 1,093.degree. C. Proprietary aluminum alloys containing from 5% to 12% silicon with small additions of other metal are widely used . . . PA1 Brazing Solders. PA1 The spelters or brazing solders are composed of copper and zinc with addition of 1% to 3% tin in some of the alloys. Those containing equal parts of copper and zinc are the common spelters which have been in general use for many years and are fluid at 871.degree. C. Another group containing copper, zinc and nickel are used with iron, steel and nickel or nickel alloys and melt at 927.degree. C. or higher . . . PA1 Fluxes. PA1 Oxide films must be prevented from forming on the joint surfaces or the alloy during the heating process and some type of flux or protective atmosphere is necessary. When the copper-phosphorous alloys are used for joining copper the phosphorous acts as a deoxidizer, but on copper alloys some flux is desirable. For lead-tin alloys in the lower range, resin or zinc chloride made by dissolving zinc in hydrochloric acid is used. The latter is referred to as an acid flux and these lead-tin alloys are supplied in tubular form with resin or zinc chloride cores. When the alloy is used in granular form the flux can be mixed with the alloy. The flux must be fluid and active at a temperature below the melting point of the alloy being used as a filler metal. An effective flux for soft soldering iron, steel, nickel or nickel alloys is a mix of 71% zinc chloride and 29% ammonium chloride. Plumbers use tallow or stearin when making wiped joints on lead pipe. The mild fluxes such as resin, tallow and stearin do not actively dissolve oxides but offer protective coatings. PA1 Borax is a common flux for hard soldering or brazing processes which use filler metals melting above 704.degree. C. The extensive use of the silver brazing alloys melting at temperatures below 649.degree. C. has necessitated the development of fluxes that are fluid and active at 593.degree. C. Combinations of borates, fluorides and chlorides provide fluxes which are fluid at temperatures from 371.degree. C. to 593.degree. C. For aluminum soldering, combinations of chlorides and fluorides are used. Borates combined with fluorine compounds are used with the low-temperature silver brazing alloys and are fluid and active at 593.degree. C. PA1 Heating. PA1 There are many satisfactory methods of heating depending upon temperature required and size and shape of parts being joined. In the soft soldering range, soldering irons, torches, induction heating and furnaces are used. Soldering irons are small at blocks of copper pointed at one end. They are heated electrically or with a blow torch or small furnace. They must be large enough and be heated to a temperature which will not only melt the filler metal quickly but also heat the surface of the joint to a temperature above the melting point of the filler metal as the soldering iron is drawn along the joint. This method of heating is suitable for soldering thin sheet metal, wires, electrical connections and small parts. Torches are used for large parts and special furnaces and conveyor systems are installed when large quantities are to be soldered. Baths of the molten filler metal are used when the parts can be securely fastened in jigs and the joint dipped just below the bath surface. PA1 Heating for hard soldering or brazing is done with torches, inductive heating, electrical resistance, furnaces, molten salt baths and baths of molten filler metal. The wide use of these processes in industry has led to the development of special furnaces and automatic equipment with particular attention to accurate control of the temperature and careful regulation of the atmosphere. PA1 The problems with aluminum wiring splices and connections .". implicated three characteristics of aluminum that differ from those of copper. Two such characteristics of aluminum are its coefficient of thermal expansion and rate of cold flow, both of which are significantly greater than those of copper. The third characteristic is that aluminum's oxide forms more quickly, is more tenacious, and is much less conductive than the oxide that forms on exposed copper surfaces . . . " PA1 The problems were solved when "a two-part solution was put into effect by Underwriters Laboratories, Northbrook, Ill. The terminals on the fixtures used with aluminum wiring were changed, as was the wiring itself. Aluminum wiring systems that incorporate these changes are known as new-technology systems. The new-technology electrical fixtures were introduced by UL in June 1972, and have terminals with wide brass screws to hold electric wire more securely. These fixtures, known as CO/ALR devices, can be used with either copper or aluminum wire. More stringent requirements for the aluminum wire used in circuits, introduced in 1971 by UL, led to wire with better thermal and conductive properties. In 1976, the U.S. National Bureau of Standards issued a report on a study of glowing electrical connections. The report concluded that electrical connections are most likely to overheat and glow at either aluminum-steel or copper-steel interfaces. The bureau was unable to develop a glow in either an aluminum-brass or a copper-brass interface, although a loose connection in either interface sometimes led to arcing or sparking." PA1 "Adams melted the cuprous chloride in a crucible on the kitchen stove, shaped it in small, handmade molds, and assembled battery after battery in baby food jars. The molten black compound smelled so foul that Emma (his wife) was often forced out of the room; eventually, the landlord asked them to move. PA1 Bert Adams was a heavy smoker, the kind one invariably sees with a cigarette in his mouth, its ash growing longer and longer until it falls of its own weight. One night, while he was engrossed in his experiments, the ashes from his cigarette dropped into the melting cuprous chloride. Although he feared the mixture might be ruined, he had no place to dispose of it; so, hoping for the best, he continued cooking it and then fabricated his battery in the usual way. PA1 This time the needle jumped when he connected the meter--the current he had long been looking for was finally being generated. `I got it, I got it!` he yelled, startling Emma out of her sleep and causing her to think he might have injured himself, `because he would get burned quite a bit trying to lift the crucible; he was a very excitable person and worked very fast.` PA1 What Bert Adams had was a battery that would light a small bulb and produce a substantially constant voltage for the lifetime of the battery (roughly thirty hours at first). This was in striking contrast to conventional lead-acid batteries, in which voltage decreased as the battery operated. Adams' battery, furthermore, could sit on a shelf for a long time and then be activated merely by adding water. It was thus an excellent reserve battery capable of performing any number of emergency chores. PA1 Exhilarated by his success, Adams set out to perfect his invention. Speculating that the carbon in the cigarette ash had served as a catalyst, he experimented with cathodes impregnated with charcoal, hard coal, powdered graphite, and even sugar. At night he placed the baby-jar batteries on the dresser so that he could watch them. Each had its own bulb, and Emma, a light sleeper, was periodically awakened both by the seven or eight small lights twinkling in the dark and by Bert jumping up to check them. PA1 Eleven days after Pearl Harbor (Dec. 18, 1941), Bert Adams applied for a patent on his battery, which was called the `Neutro Cell`."
A primary battery is a non-rechargeable battery such as the common carbon-zinc or alkaline battery, and a secondary battery is one that can be recharged; these were extracted from "Batteries: Today and Tomorrow" by Don Mennie in the IEEE Spectrum of March 1976, pages 36-41.
The following thermal battery description is taken from High Energy Batteries by Raymond Jasinski, Plenum Press, New York, 1967, page 96 and following. In FIG. 3-3 "Fused salt" electrolytes are shown as operating from about 300.degree. C. to about 1, 000.degree. C.
The cells are stored at ambient temperature, with the electrolyte a solid. This provides for a low self-discharge rate and a long storage life. When fused, the cells are capable of high discharge rates for short times. It has been in this area of high discharge rates (greater than 1 amp/sq.inch) (greater than 0.155 amp/sq.cm.) that the thermal battery has found most application.
In pulse performance at 70OF (21.degree. C.) (Jasinski, page 211, reference FIG. 6-2), the molten salt/thermal battery exceeds all other types of batteries with a voltage per cell (VPC) of 2.0 volts and a discharge rate of 1.085 amps/sq.cm.(reference FIG. 6-2). Further, from Jasinski, pages 97-98:
Further, from Jasinski, page 111, under . . . Cell Materials--General, Negatives:
The following definition of an electrolyte is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 8, page 230.
The following excerpts concerning battery electrolytes were taken from page 72 of "Electrochemical Vehicle Power Plants" by D. A. J. Swinkels, IEEE Spectrum, May 1968, pages 71-77 . . .
The following excerpts about borax are taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 3, 1965, pages 951 and 952 under the heading: Borax.
The following excerpt about borax glass when molten is taken from Boron, Metallo-Boron Compounds and Boranes, edited by Roy M. Adams, published by John Wiley in 1964, page 148:
As noted above, borax dissolves oxides on metal. Ashes are metal oxides as stated in the following dictionary definitions. The large Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1986) defines "ash" as: "1.b: the solid residue of nonvolatile oxides or salts of metals (as sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron) or of non-metallic atoms (as silica) or of pure metal (as platinum) left when combustible substances (as plants, foods) have been thoroughly oxidized (as by nitric acid or some other wet oxidizing agent) and frequently used in quantitative analysis as a measure of the mineral-matter content of the original material." The smaller, Webster's Ninth New Dictionary (1983) defines "ash" as: "the solid residue left when combustible material is thoroughly burned or is oxidized by chemical means." The Pocket Oxford Dictionary, Fifth Edition (1976) defines "ash" as: "Powdery residue left after combustion of a substance."
The Kingzetl's Chemical Encyclopedia by Bailliere, Tindall and Cursell, 9th Edition (1966) at pages 82 and 83 presents the following about "ashes":
The following excerpts about potash, lithium, polonium and tobacco are taken from The Chemistry of the Elements by Howard Nechamkin, McGraw-Hill, 1968:
The following excerpt about lithium is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 14, page 109, under the heading of Lithium.
The following about lithium is extracted from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 14, page 109, under the heading of Lithium, Table I.--Uses of Lithium. Lithium carbonate is applied in tobacco culture, porcelain enamels, production of miscellaneous lithium compounds, desulfurization of steel and as a catalyst in the plastics field. Lithium chloride and lithium fluoride are applied as fluxes for welding aluminum and welding magnesium in the welding field.
The following excerpt about lithium is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 14, page 109, under the heading of Lithium, Uses.
The following excerpt about lithium is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 14, page 110, under the heading of Lithium, Occurence and Production.
The following excerpt about lithium is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 14, page 110, under the heading of Lithium, Compounds.
The following excerpt about potassium is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1965, Volume 18, pages 321-323 under the heading of Potassium.
The following excerpt about thermistors (the word is a contraction of "thermal resistors") is taken from Measurements in Electrical Engineering, Part One, by Roland B. Marshall, Second Edition, (1948), page 143: "A thermistor is a semi-conductor formed from the oxides of various metals such as manganese, nickel, cobalt, and copper. The oxides are pressed into shape and "fired" under carefully controlled conditions with the result that ceramic-like structures are formed. Their temperature coefficients are negative and range about ten times as high as those of metals."
The following description of direct energy conversion is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica (1965), Volume 8, pages 387-388, under the heading: Energy Conversion, Direct.
The thermoelectric voltage for an aluminum-against-copper (Al--Cu) thermocouple junction can be obtained from the thermoelectric voltages of aluminum (Al) with platinum (Pt), 3.8 uV/.degree. C., and of copper with Pt, 7.4 uV/.degree. C., and combining them and eliminating the Pt to get 3.6 uV/.degree. C. for an Al--Cu thermocouple. These thermoelectric voltages are obtained from a "Table III: Thermoelectric Effect in Metals" under the heading: "Electricity, Conduction of" in the Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 8, (1965), page 194. As an example of the thermoelectric voltage from an Al--Cu thermocouple: if the temperature at the heated junction of an Al--Cu thermocouple is increased to 600.degree. C., a temperature delta of 575.degree. C. will be obtained (assuming the cold junction is 25.degree. C.), which will produce a thermoelectric voltage of 2.07 millivolts (0.00207 volts DC); this is 575.degree. C. multiplied by 3.6 uV/.degree. C.